Journey of a Clone
by RepulsiveTurtle
Summary: "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, genin of Konoha and Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. But here are some things that most people don't know. I was not born on October 10th. I am not the child of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. I am a clone. " What if Naruto died, and all that remained of him was a single Shadow Clone? Can he still be the greatest Hokage ever? Rated M just in case.


**AN: So, I've been on this sight for a while, and read a lot of stuff, but I've never been that much of a writer. However, this idea just hit me, and I decided I would try anyways. This is my first, story. It's probably pretty crappy, but hopefully it'll get much better. For this reason, feel free to leave any reviews you think would be helpful, but try to avoid flames.**

**Also, this fic is majorly still in its early stages, with little concrete plans for a direction of the plot, so feel free to come up with any ideas for the story and send them to me as well**

**I'm also in need of a beta as well, in order to bounce ideas off of, and to check anything I write to see if it comes off as boring or doesn't seem to flow very well. Send me a message if you want to.**

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto world, which is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The characters featured in this story are__ characters created and owned by him, and I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Naruto. The plot of this story was created by me and it is not purported or believed to be part of Masashi Kishimoto's story canon. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line__ of Naruto._

* * *

**Journey of a Clone**

The old man told me that I could find closure or some crap like that if I recorded the things that happened to me. It sounds flimsy, but here goes.

My name is Uzumaki Naruto, genin of Konoha and Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. But here are some things that most people don't know.

I was not born on October 10th.

I am not the child of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina.

I am a clone.

Not to say that I am some test-tube creation bred to destroy the enemies of Konoha or anything like that. I'm just a construct of chakra that was born in the middle of a battle. All the things that make me who I am don't come from me; they come from my…creator.

Maybe I should back up some.

* * *

It was a clear night, and the lands around the village of Konohagakure no Sato would normally be filled with the sounds of insects and animals scurrying about their lives. But tonight, the only sounds that could be heard were the clash of steel and the impact of flesh. When looking closer, several figures could be seen dashing through the trees. One wore the traditional garments of a chuunin of Konoha, and was known as the academy instructor Touji Mizuki. The others all appeared to be the same blonde haired boy wearing an orange tracksuit, easily recognizable as Konoha's resident troublemaker Uzumaki Naruto. The scene that was playing out between the two could only be described as a massacre.

However, it was not the orange horde that was winning, despite having far superior numbers. It was, oddly enough, Mizuki who appeared to be dominating the fight. Despite his earlier boasts of repaying Mizuki a thousand fold for what he had done, Naruto was still only the dead-last at the academy. Mizuki was a well-rounded shinobi with several years of field experience. Not only that, but he was also a konoha shinobi, who were all trained especially in the art of forest-based warfare. What had started out as a beat down had transformed into a running battle waged throughout the canopy of the Land of Fire's large forests.

'_Damn it!' _Naruto thought to himself angrily as he watched from a distance as Mizuki tore through a small group of his clones with brutal efficiency. _'He really is better than I thought.'_

Quickly, Naruto brought his hands together in a cross shaped seal and executed his newly found signature technique.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

A group of 30 clones quickly popped into existence around him before rushing into the furious melee taking place below them. Seeing the incoming group, Mizuki quickly grunted in anger before taking off into the trees again in an effort to spread out his pursuers and make it easier to pick them off one by one.

'_Che! Who would have thought the damn brat could spam this many clones! I need to solve this quickly if I want to avoid detection any longer.' _Mizuki thought to himself as he continued to create distance between himself and the clones. Seeing that the mass of clones had once again ignorantly gathered together in a large mass, Mizuki quickly turned around and ran through a series of seals before shouting **"Katon: Endan!"**and launching a medium sized ball of fire towards the mass of clones, dispersing several of them before launching himself through the midst of the remaining clones and once again proceeding to quickly dispel several at a time with kunai and shuriken.

Naruto, who had quickly jumped back after seeing his clones get blown away, broke out into a cold sweat after he realized how far over his head this situation had become. "Damn it!" he cursed aloud to himself this time. "I need to figure out a way to beat this bastard and get Iruka-sensei to the hospital!"

Perking up at hearing this yell, Mizuki quickly identified the real one amidst the clones and hurled several kunai towards him.

"Gak!" Naruto yelled as he frantically ducked amidst the trees while creating another wall of clones to distract Mizuki and hide himself. Realizing how close he was to dying, he quickly retreated a safe distance from the fight before trying to come up with a plan.

'_Come on! Iruka-sensei acknowledged me as one of his precious students! I can't let him down!' _Naruto thought to himself furiously as he tried to come up with a plan. _'If I can't beat him straight up, I have to out-think him. It's like Iruka-sensei is always saying, the mind is the greatest tool of a shinobi or whatever.'_

Calming himself down, Naruto sat down and began to think about his options. "Let's see…What do I have that I can use besides my badass Kage Bunshin?" Naruto quickly emptied his hip pouch of all of his ninja tools. "Okay, a couple of kunai, six shuriken, some steel wire, a handful of makibishi and an explosive tag…Heh! this'll work." He muttered to himself with a large grin forming on his face.

Packing up his supplies again, Naruto turned back towards the battle raging in the distance before bringing forth another group of Kage Bunshin. "Alright, this is what we're gonna do!"

* * *

Mizuki quickly jumped in the air before spinning his massive shuriken that he had found earlier in his hand before hurling it at another group of clones. Seeing these also dispel, Mizuki growled to himself before viciously backfisting a clone trying to jump on his back. "I've had enough of this, damn it!"

Looking around, he found that he was strangely alone with no more clones in sight. "Where did you go you little piece of shit?!" He yelled out into the woods around him.

"Wow that's a big shuriken there sensei, are you trying to compensate for something?"

Hearing that annoying voice again, Mizuki turned to find his orange-clad nemesis standing a good bit away in the middle of a clearing. "I bet you can't even spell 'compensate' you annoying BRAT!" he shouted as he charged the boy.

In his rage, Mizuki did not notice the slightly disturbed earth under the clone, which leapt back seeing his former teacher charge at him once more. Seeking to finally end the annoying demon-brat, Mizuki overlooked a key factor. Never take anything for granted when Uzumaki Naruto grins at you like that.

As soon as Mizuki leapt into the clearing, the hidden explosive tag detonated with an ear-shattering blast. Disorientated and beaten by the dust, debris, and concussive force of the explosion, Mizuki tried to stumble back, but quickly found himself getting assaulted from multiple positions around the clearing by clones that were spread around it. Kunai and shuriken quickly began down on the former teacher before he collected himself and began returning the clones' attacks, quickly eliminating most of them, but not before he took even more damage. At this time, Naruto's plan entered its next stage, with several clones holding ninja wire began to circle Mizuki, trapping him in the middle of them.

Seeing his situation getting worse and worse, Mizuki quickly channeled chakra throughout his body before grabbing the mass of wires and yanking them along with the clones attached to them into the air. "I REFUSE TO BE BEATEN BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU!" he yelled before hurling the mass of clones into a tree.

He quickly began to look around to see if any clones remained while panting with exhaustion. It was then that he noticed several small objects raining down on him. Thinking he was under attack, Mizuki leapt up before he finally noticed what the items were. "Makibishi? HAH! Only a dumbass dropout like you would try to use makibishi as weapons!" he shouted up to the grinning prankster. "I hoped that I at least taught you that much in class!" He followed up before continuing to laugh.

"Heh…Maybe you did, sensei. NOW!" Naruto called out.

With a series of poofs, several of the small caltrops burst into smoke before clearing up to show several clones holding kunai that quickly dog piled on Mizuki trying to do as much damage as possible.

"Wha…**Henge**?!" Mizuki shouted in surprise before beginning to destroy the clones all around him. By the time he was done, he was severely wounded, with several gashes and stabs lacerating his body. Seeing his enemy completely defeated, Naruto could not resist dropping down to taunt his teacher-turned-traitor. "I told you I would pay you back a thousand times over!" Naruto smirked in Mizuki's face while walking up to him. "I think that makes up for what you did to Iruka-sensei, you bastard. Now, ask nicely and I'll take you to the hospital." He said crossing his arms behind his head and grinning.

Mizuki bowed his head while gritting his teeth. However, he quickly noticed a kunai laying on the ground near him that hadn't dispelled like the others. With a hidden grin, Mizuki grabbed it and lunged at Naruto, burying the kunai deep in his chest with a grin, before being knocked out by a remaining clone that had yet to be dispelled. Seeing that Mizuki was unconscious, the clone quickly ran over to his creator.

"Oh man! Boss, don't die on me Boss! You can't die now, we gotta become the greatest Hokage ever, remember?!" the clone began shouting in a panic while hovering over Naruto's body.

"Hokage…" Naruto coughed the word weakly with blood running from his mouth and pooling on the ground around him. "I wanted…to be…Hokage…" he sighed before closing his eyes.

"BOSS!" the clone cried out before checking for any signs of life.

There wasn't one. Uzumaki Naruto was dead.

* * *

And that's where my life began. I was just the last clone that was left over from that battle. Soon after that, Iruka-sensei arrived with the ANBU too. They wanted to know what was going on, but I didn't even know where to start. The ANBU took Mizuki into custody and left me with Iruka-sensei and told us to go meet with the Old Man. We sealed him up in a sealing scroll before we left and took him with us. Me, that is.

Or my creator.

Or just my corpse, maybe.

Hell, this is still too much for me, I'll start again tomorrow.

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_Read and Review!_

_RepulsiveTurtle out!_


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